


First Night

by Periphyton



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Good Omens is Jewish and so are we, Hanukkah, Jewish Food, Jewish prayer, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21912259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Periphyton/pseuds/Periphyton
Summary: Aziraphale lights the candles for the first night of Hanukkah, with a very appropriate prayer for him and his demon.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 26





	First Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LuckyPenny36](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuckyPenny36/gifts).



> I'm back! The semester is over, finals are done, and it's time for Hanukkah Fics! Who is going to match me - one fic per night, for eight nights?
> 
> One for each night, they shed a sweet light, these stories we tell from our soul. One for each night, our words shining bright, with stories we tell from our soul.

First Night

“Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha’olam, shehecheyanu, v’kiyamanu, v’higianu, lazman ha’zey,” Aziraphale could feel Crowley rolling his eyes at him through behind his back and his glasses as the angel recited the Shehecheyanu prayer for the first night of Hanukah. Despite the disgruntled irreverence from the demon, he continued in English. “Praise be you, Eternal One, for giving us life, sustaining us, and allowing us to reach this time of joy.” He stood back from the antique silver menorah and watched the flames from the shamesh candle and the first night’s candle waver in the air. 

Crowley just snorted. “She may have “given us life” but She certainly hasn’t been very keen on “allowing us to reach this time of joy,” he said, with very visible “air quotes” in his voice. 

Aziraphale turned and smiled at his demon, the lights of the candles reflecting in his glasses. “I think if She had truly wanted Armageddon to happen, our little hijinks wouldn’t have made any difference. But still, here we are. Together. In this time of joy.” He took one of Crowley’s hands in his, brought it up to his mouth, and kissed it, just to enjoy the fine flustered blush that always provoked. He couldn’t help it – it was so adorable, that a demon could blush. His demon, blushing to match his hair from finally receiving all the affection Aziraphale had had to be so discrete about, until now. It was also a very reliable method to stop any arguing in its tracks, and he didn’t want to bicker about Divine Will and Ineffible Plans tonight. This was their first night of Hanukkah that they could celebrate together, freely and openly, and he just wanted to enjoy the familiar rhythm of the prayers and rituals, developed over the centuries by humans who had insisted in persisting as they chose to be rather than assimilating to outside forces. 

“Well I don’t have any presents for you,” Crowley grumbled when he had his hand back. 

“Oh really? So that box wrapped in such lovely blue and silver wrapping paper just happens to be ‘not a present’?” Aziraphale said, smiling, using his own air quotes.

“Nope. It’s not.” Crowley handed him a ‘not a present’ wrapped box. “It’s just some snacks for us tonight.”

Aziraphale batted his eyes at Crowley, making the demon blush almost as much as when he had kissed his hand, and unwrapped the glittering blue and silver bow. He slowly unwrapped the paper, undoing one taped seem at a time, unfolding it like reverse origami. Just when Crowley thought his angel couldn’t drag out the strip tease unwrap any longer, he finally opened the box.

“Sufganyiot! Where did you get these? They look perfect. Scrumptious!” The box was full of the most delectable powered jelly donuts, filling the room with their warm scent. 

“Oh, little hole in the wall kosher deli I found last week. I’ll take you there tomorrow for latkes,” Crowley said. He had tried making latkes a few times, but it got annoying having to wave at the fire alarm to turn it off each time he burned a batch. 

“That sound lovey.” Aziraphale took out some wine and poured them both a glass. “L’chaim!” 

Crowley clicked his glass in a toast. “To Life! To everything still being alive!” 

They drank, and Aziraphale held up his glass again. “And – to Hanukkah. To this most perfect of Jewish holidays: They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat!”

Crowley laughed. “They certainly did try to kill us, we survived, so let’s eat!” They clicked their glasses to this second toast, drank, and ate their donuts in the glow of two shining candles.


End file.
